Defoe's Contribution

[Chinaspur]

How many aimless clearances did people think JD should have got onto and didn't because he was not working hard enough?

How much do people expect a lone striker to be involved when our possession is in the teens?

 

[HotspurFC1950]

Sod Ade, Jermaine has not only earnt his place but he's earnt the right to be shit for a couple of games and still be picked for the 3rd..... Well fucking done Defoe, well fucking done.

Eloquent.

 

[alamo]

JD did fantastically for the third goal. Showed vision I never previously realized he had.

He certainly has flaws but I can't bring myself to criticize him or any of the team given yesterdays result.

We won. Fuck me. Away at Old Trafford. I've pinched myself 100 times already and I still haven't woken up!

And it's my birthday this week so what a great present to set things off and help me commiserate being an even older git.

 

[Nocando]

Is anyone actually doing that, though? Looks to me just a case of giving credit where it's due. About half this forum wanted (and quite a few expected) him gone once Andre took over.

Precisely. I put it down to the fact there's always a group of people who like to whinge or criticise and seem unable to grasp the fact that sometimes people will praise the much maligned, when, shock horror, they've performed well and are deserve praise. To single out Defoe for criticism (and giving what if scenarios) when he played a vital role in one of the biggest victories for decades is pretty unfair. Or perhaps it's a case of people liking the sound of their opinion too much and must reaffirm their point, because that's the important thing here ("I've said it before and I'll say it again").

You may not like him and think he is well behind Ade in the pecking order, and perhaps this is correct (but then again Ade isn't the perfect striker by any means) but credit where credit is due. The whole team deserves a massive pat on the back, including Defoe (but also a reminder to not go and ruin this result by messing up next week).

 

[adamthfc]

I find it ironic that people criticise Defoe yet can't criticise Sandro or Dembele for their second half performances and in the ratings threads were getting 8's and 9's. They were fucked 2nd half and gave Carrick and more importantly Scholes so much time and space. But like with Defoe they deserve all the credit for what they did to achieve the result and the never say die attitude.

Defoe gets a rough ride, yet his contribution this season has probably been the most significant.

Amazing really

 

[adamthfc]

JD did fantastically for the third goal. Showed vision I never previously realized he had.

He certainly has flaws but I can't bring myself to criticize him or any of the team given yesterdays result.

We won. Fuck me. Away at Old Trafford. I've pinched myself 100 times already and I still haven't woken up!

And it's my birthday this week so what a great present to set things off and help me commiserate being an even older git.

And there are people claiming he didn't work hard. They should be embarrassed

 

[si_yidarmy]

I think it is natural as players get older they become more involved in the all round part of the game. To see Defoe both scoring and contributing the way he has been is fantastic! True pro

 

[eViL]

Defoe was good yesterday, but when we were under pressure he needed to hit the channels when in possession. His tenacity and pass for the third goal was brilliant and doesn't get enough credit.

If I have to criticisms of Defoe, he never runs hard with the ball (like Bale for example) to burn his marker (likes to play with his head up for a scoring opportunity), and he lacks the confidence he used to have when he was younger to actually take on defenders and go past them. He's actually got more ability in his locker then he shows these days and it's a question of desire (like Jenas)- he seems to be getting pretty hungry at the moment though. It seems a regular trait of players that make it early on (Jenas, Bentley) that they know they've made it and don't push themselves to the next level.

Unless the hoofing from the back stops completely, Defoe is pretty much redundant. We just kept giving them the ball back over and over in the second half with the long ball and players in the modern game should have the awareness to work to your team-mate's strengths.

If this was the instruction from AVB (which I doubt) then he needs to improve his awareness of the game.

If it was Friedel, then it's Lloris time.

 

[only1waddle]

I am one of Defoe's critics usually but yesterday i thought he did well, lets look at United, Fergie subbed on Rooney, Hernandez and Wellbeck, all forwards that offer something different, just for once lets give Defoe a break he can't be good at every single thing, that's why you have options on the bench, with Ade injured we didn't have that option..

 

[yusrisafri]

you neg rep me for agreeing with you?

 

[yusrisafri]

you neg rep me for agreeing with you?

Sorry dude, was meant to me a "like" but I accidentally pressed the "dislike". Heheeheh.....can I undo it?

 

[DFF]

Didn't offer any outlet in the second half. Yes he set up Bale after some good hold up play, but let's not go over the top.

I found myself agreeing with Chris Waddle - his decision making at points yesterday when faced with the opportunity to relieve some pressure was shocking.

Can we stop kidding ourselves that he's a better option than Adebayor? He's a stop gap forward at the moment - his strongest position is (and always has been) as an impact sub.

I'm all for praising our players but over-the-top stuff doesn't sit right with me.

Holding up play improved, but not a patch on Adebayor. Sorry.

All of his goals this year have been classic Defoe strikes. A scorer of great goals; not a great goalscorer.

And as for him "creating space". I call bullshit. He was moving into a position to receive the ball to shoot himself, not doing a "Samways". (He's used him by not using him)

+1

I think the fact that we just beat Man U is clouding the judgement of some. I've watched the match twice now. Defoe was a passenger for most of the match. At least make a nuisance of yourself. Don't let them transition from defense to attack so easily. Adebayor can score goals, hold up play, and hassle opposition possession players (Scholes). Although he is prone to bouts of laziness.

You might say this about a lot of footballers, but Defoe has always been and will always be about personal glory (see my sig). Quite simply, our lone forward needs to be a more rounded, less selfish team player.

 

[BringBack_leGin]

Defoe played well, he held the ball up, controlled it, played good passes and relieved pressure. He also had a huge involvement in two goals. Yes, he had one moment where he ran centrally and took on a difficult shot rather than run down to the wings and try and delay, but the chances are that our 5ft5 striker would have lost the ball anyway doing that because a) he's 5ft5 and b) there was nobody up the pitch with him to help relieve pressure so Utd would've had 3 men around him very quickly. Criticising him for that is tantamount to Houllier's criticism of Ginola after the Bulgarian goal which stopped France qualifying for USA 94.

Yes, towards the end he looked slow, couldn't trap the ball, and wasn't contributing. How many strikers, regardless of size or style, could say differently after the majority of a half chasing nothing balls while isolated in the opposition half because your entire team, who had pushed up very well in the first half, were camped in their own penalty area? Defoe is often worthy of criticism, but yesterday wasn't one of those days. Yesterday his awareness, work rate and pressing reminded me of Eto'o when he was in his pomp at Barcelona. And when Defoe had opportunities to do something good yesterday, he did do it, with a great through ball for Bale with our third, and a great run to drag Evans away for our second. Van Persie, a better striker on equally good form, had a golden chance to do something good yesterday with a shot on his left foot, one on one with our goalkeeper. He screwed it wide. If you can name me a moment like that where Defoe equally let us down yesterday, then I'll accept some criticism of him. Otherwise, save it for a game where he contributes nothing, spends his time taking ridiculous shots when better options are available, or misses easy opportunities to score or assist.

 

[Krafty]

I've only seen extended highlights, but Defoe was involved in all of our bright attacking moves it seemed. Even for Jan's goal he made a run out wide left, dragging Ferdinand with him, opening up the space for Jan to drive into.

He made good runs for Lennon's chance and Bale's goal, and was a big part in the third goal.

His off the ball movement looks very sharp at the moment, and I don't see any reason why Adebayor should replace Defoe when he is fit.

 

[Danny1]

Didn't offer any outlet in the second half. Yes he set up Bale after some good hold up play, but let's not go over the top.

I found myself agreeing with Chris Waddle - his decision making at points yesterday when faced with the opportunity to relieve some pressure was shocking.

Can we stop kidding ourselves that he's a better option than Adebayor? He's a stop gap forward at the moment - his strongest position is (and always has been) as an impact sub.

I'm all for praising our players but over-the-top stuff doesn't sit right with me.

Holding up play improved, but not a patch on Adebayor. Sorry.

All of his goals this year have been classic Defoe strikes. A scorer of great goals; not a great goalscorer.

And as for him "creating space". I call bullshit. He was moving into a position to receive the ball to shoot himself, not doing a "Samways". (He's used him by not using him)

Spot on!

I for one am happy that Defoe has improved this year and he is definitely playing some of the better football of his career, but lets not go over the top here and make him out to be one of the best around. Adebayor is better at what we require and like Stoof says he didnt help our cause in the second half at all yesterday. He really should have run to the corner or hold the ball up like Sigurdsson did when Rooney ended up kicking him up in the air.

I am glad for Defoe and believe he is Spurs through and through and funnily enough think he has a big part to play this season but with Ade as our no1.

 

[thinktank]

He's playing far better than I ever imagined possible.

But I'd still start to introduce Ade asap, for the sake of our whole attacking and defensive (i.e. an outlet) play.

It's basically the Friedel-Lloris situation again. It's very hard to drop Friedel/Defoe because of their individual performances, but the team will be much better for the inclusion of Lloris/Ade.

Exactamundo.

 

[danielneeds]

Defoe is provIng a lot of people wrong, including me. Very mature performance yesterday, he worked his bollox off.

2nd half there was not much he could do, the rest of the team dropped off too much and made his job impossible. He still did some intelligent stuff like dropping onto Scholes when they were in possession as cutting him off as an option for other United players.

 

[Spurger King]

There was still some moron who spent the entire 90 slagging him off behind me

Wasn't Adebayor was it?

 

[nidge]

Defoe played well yesterday but for me the second and third goals whilst good work from Defoe actually said more about how poor defensively United are as a team these days.

The second the two centre backs for United were too far apart and then committed the cardinal sin of crossing over where Ferdinand should have passed Bale onto Evans and then followed Defoe's run.

The third goal once again Ferdinand should have never let Defoe cut in from the position he was and because of this it allowed Bale to run into the space Ferdinand had left to cover Defoe out wide.

 

[Chinaspur]

He also hasn't 'suddenly' got better. He played really well last season with goal stats that put him up there with RVP, Aguero and Dzeko. He just wasn't given as much pitch time.